WEBVTT - Jazz/Lakers Postgame Spaces 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:18.200 M all right. Welcome to the State of the Lakers, 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.400 presented by DASH Radio. Thank you guys so much for 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.119 coming to hang out on a Monday. I hope you 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:25.720 all had a great weekend. I think we just saw 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:31.120 the best basketball I've seen the Lakers play in a very, very, 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.920 very long time, rose especially when you counted against the 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:37.080 talent that they had available. I guess we could look 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.440 back to some games, maybe against the Phoenix Suns early 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.879 in that playoff series, where they looked this good. But 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:45.560 this is the best I've seen them look relative to 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.280 their talent in a very probably since Game six of 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:53.760 the NBA Finals. This was just an incredible, almost wired, 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.520 a wired performance. I'm pretty stoked about it. We were 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.640 texting during the game. There's so so much to talk about, 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:01.800 and I look forward to getting to the bottom of 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:03.240 all of it with you. But first of all, Buddy, 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:06.039 how are you doing and how is your weekend? It 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:08.160 was good. I am hyped for this one. Man. This 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.440 is to me the win of the year. I guess 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.000 the other one could be our win against Cleveland earlier 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:15.400 before the Calvs became who they were. But now this 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:17.280 is the win of the year. Man, Utah is a 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.800 good team. They came in tonight, I think, wanting to 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:21.839 continue there on a little bit of a losing streak. 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.240 They won their last one in Denver, second game back 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:26.160 to back for them. But now this is a big win, man, 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:29.240 you go. They went up Utah, came back, roaring back, 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:31.480 went up ten, and then to come back in that 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.400 fashion that fourth quarter, I think just highlighted a lot 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:36.360 of stuff that we can to build on here. But man, 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:38.759 it's a really great win. I'm I'm excited to get 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.440 into this one. Yeah, So to start, I want to 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.880 talk about, you know, the strategies we use against the 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.040 Jazz and the reason the reason why I think they're 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:51.960 super you know, uh, you know relative, you know, they're 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.760 super important to projecting forward with this team because the 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:58.920 Jazz do. The Jazz are extremely well coached, and they've 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:04.880 run very difficult scheme to guard, and they have pieces 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.120 that are, you know, similar to some of the things 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.079 we're gonna see from other teams in the Western Conference 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.680 that we might see in the playoffs. And you know, 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.240 you and I talked a lot after the last game 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.000 against the Nuggets about how the dumbest thing about what 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.480 the Lakers were doing with their small ball groups was 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.960 playing too many small guys, and people think of small 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:25.800 people think of small ball having to do with the 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:28.880 center position, and it does, you know, on its surface, 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.639 but the aggregate size of those lineups that succeed in 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.280 the league are usually big. Like that Clippers lineup that 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:38.040 was so good. It's like they're getting Marcus Morris and 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.560 Nicholas patum And and Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. So yeah, 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:45.160 there's no center, but everybody's everyone's huge outside of that, right, 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:47.400 And so that was part of it. And then also 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:50.400 with the Lakers small ball lineups, they were trying to 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.919 run traditional pick and roll coverages with Lebron underneath the basket, 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.400 and one of the issues with that is that in 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.600 those situations, you're asking all those guards to to run 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:02.960 through so much contact and they're small players and they're 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.080 struggling with it. So that you and I talked about 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:09.760 how this team needs to switch more because when you switch, 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.760 it allows you to make up for your size deficiencies 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.119 by stagnating the opponent. This is something that I talked 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.560 about all the time on the show with you, and 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:20.760 there's such a there's a there's a key reason why 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.640 I believe in the strategy because the Lakers had, even 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.760 with their bigger lineups that they played today, in terms 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:28.320 of the size of the wings that they played, you know, 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:30.560 a lot more Austin Reeves, a lot more Stanley Johnson. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:35.680 Even with that, the Jazz were bigger, but their size 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:39.600 wasn't able to punish us to the extent that it 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:41.840 made up for what we were able to do to 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.720 them with our speed and our versatility on the perimeter. 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:49.400 And that's the key, because when you switch everything, you 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:53.000 turn a ball movement offense like the Utah Jazz into 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.920 an isolation offense. And they had seventeen points in the 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.840 fourth quarter, five of which were total garbage time. So 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.880 you held them to twelve points in a pivotal basketball movement, 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.080 one of the most dominant offenses in the league, because 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:12.080 you switched everything shut off their actions forced them to 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:16.800 try to create against a set isolation defender, and as 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:21.680 a result, their offense fell to pieces that that philosophy 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.200 is modern basketball. And then on the other end, the 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.520 Lakers were running a five out concept, which removed Ruddy 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.679 Gobert from the equation, forced him to guard in space 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.880 where he struggled with with Stanley Johnson and his low 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.720 center of gravity and his ability to kind of, you know, 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:42.320 navigate beneath Rudy Gobert with his speed and with his strength, 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:44.919 and so we're gonna die further into it. But I 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.480 think that this style, you know, it's very indicative of 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:50.839 what this team needs to be, what we need to 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.240 be at our best. Is this a big, small poll 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.800 line up that plays our bigger wings and then adapts 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:02.159 that adopts and uses and leans into the modern defensive 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.440 concepts that work in the NBA today. I don't think 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:06.680 obviously the Jazz didn't play as well as they could have, 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:10.000 but I don't think it was a complete coincidence that 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.840 they played as bad as they did because we directly 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.880 attacked their weaknesses ROJ we had purpose right with what 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:18.720 we were doing. Like we watched that Denver game, there 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:20.800 was a lot of stuff that just didn't make any sense. 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.279 We weren't going anything with the personnel. I thought tonight, 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:26.480 we just made Gobert garden space and Stanley Johnson obviously 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.000 a big part of that. He was aggressive. I love that, 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.320 you know, Stanley, he doesn't pass up jump shots, and 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:33.839 I think that has a domino effect to to his 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.359 game where he's also aggressive with the ball, and Lebron 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.560 saw that he started screening for him right he was 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.000 able to get to the basket. We started Dwight Howard 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.800 in this game, and Dwight wasn't great through the throughout, 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.119 but I thought him just starting kind of set a tone. 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:48.320 I thought he played well. We had a nice coverage. 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.320 He wasn't He didn't nice stop switching as well. We 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.240 switched pretty much one through five. The only guy we 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.960 didn't really switch with tonight was Malik Monk. But I 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.200 thought just our coverage was great. We were flying around 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.080 you talk, couldn't get any open shot. I thought Dwight 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.640 took the rim away. We played him. We we had 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:05.200 a little bit of our scheme where we played Dwight 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:07.360 against their small ball. You saw that as well, right, 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:08.960 and like he kind of took and he took the 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.080 basket away. I thought it was great to see um. 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.280 And then we just went small. We have Stanley Johnson 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.239 playing the five, Lebron playing the five. We found minutes 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:18.800 without Lebron and Russ luck. I guess we'll get into later, 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:21.160 but it was just a great energy win. Man and 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:23.640 Utah is a really good team. They're very similar to 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:25.800 Phoenix to me, where they have counters to everything. Their 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.280 whole offense is predicated on a Gobert screen and roll 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:30.320 um and I thought Mike Conley kind of got going 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:31.880 with that. He was they were kind of hunting the 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:33.560 league monk in that way. But we just had a 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:35.960 great overall scheme. Man and Lebron was incredible again. We 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.680 had the apology right from Lebron James like I think 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:40.839 a couple of hours earlier and he comes out tonight 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:43.320 with this show. It was just an awesome team win 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:45.360 and I think this is stuff we can build on. Man. 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.120 Austin Reaves I think needs to play more. Stanley Johnson 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.280 needs to play more. I think the young guys are 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:52.520 definitely showing out that needs to be on the floor. 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:55.440 Austin Reeves THHD Stanley Johnson, like those guys need to 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.200 play um if you're not gonna get effort from other places. 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:00.320 And you know, every rally started again. He had that 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:02.919 big three. I thought he struggled throughout this night, but 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:05.040 just seeing those guys kind of turned the game around. 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.640 The Russell Westbrook big dunk. I know he kind of 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.800 struggled throughout, but I thought that was a big momentum changer. Uh. 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:13.360 And you know i'veen tweeting Jason, there's a good team 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:14.800 in here, and this is kind of what I mean, 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:17.160 you know what I mean Like this, We're not as 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.600 bad as we've shown and and it's very clear when 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:21.640 we haven't and when we don't. But we need to 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:23.840 play this hard like every night. I'm not expecting us 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:25.400 to win every night. I don't even expect us to 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.040 win tonight against Utah even we were up six. I 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.680 was still kind of questioning it at halftime. But this 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:32.040 is how we have to play, man. And you see 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.280 the effort and you see guys flying around Austin Reason 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:36.720 with the floater to a tip layup like those kind 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:38.600 of stuff is you know those kind of that kind 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:42.680 of energy is contagious. Stanley Johnson, that energy is contagious. Uh. 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:44.520 You know his play on Rudy Gobert. And we'll get 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.240 more into that, but just a good win, man. It's 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.000 it's exciting, uh, to finally have like a fun space 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:51.200 I guess to talk about to talk about this. We 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.640 get to be positive for once, and so I do 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:57.200 want to start with Lebron, because he he was the 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.920 guy who you know, may or may not bendy catalyst 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:03.600 with his with his tweet, or at least an attitude change. 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:05.640 And I want to look at the box score for 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:09.720 a second, because so Lebron has seven and seven, which 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.400 is not a I popping stat line by any stretch 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:15.160 of the imagination. It's not a bad one, but it's 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:19.960 not ipopping really quickly, really quickly. Hints again tonight, that's 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:23.520 fourteen straight games with at least twenty five plus. That's uh, 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.000 the current record leader in the league. I heard them 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:29.800 bring that up in spectrum as wow, that's crazy, um. 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.760 But what's interesting about it is he was below from 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.319 the field, and he was below from three, and he 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.840 couldn't make a free throw. But I thought it was 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:40.520 one of his best games of the season. And this 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.640 is the huge issue that I have with you know, 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:46.040 box score watching. It's something that I get into with 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.080 people all the time when we're talking about basketball. It's like, heck, 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:50.960 it's something I've been dealing with with Lebron fans so 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.400 much over the course of the last week because I've 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.559 been critical of the way he's played defense, and everyone 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:57.800 wants to be like, oh, he's averaging thirty four over 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:01.240 his last twelve games and saying it's like, hey, man, like, 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.079 there's so much more that happens in a basketball game 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:07.560 than it grabbed the rebound of driving kick three, or 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.520 you scoring the basket, scoring the basketball. There's so much 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.679 more that goes into winning a basketball game. Lebron was 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.840 freaking everywhere tonight, on both ends of the floor, flying around, 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.080 making plays, and then in that fourth quarter lineup with 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:25.160 Austin Reeves, Malik Monks, Stanley Johnson and Thht he basically 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.200 didn't have the ball in his hands and completely controlled 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:32.520 the game because he understood that the Jazz were struggling 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.480 with how to navigate a coverage with him as the screener, 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:38.520 and as a result, Stanley Johnson kept getting ahead of 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.040 Steam because they wanted to go underneath that screen and 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:43.080 he was the Lebron was setting it almost down at 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.360 the semi circle, at the bottom of the semi circle. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.600 But again, what you saw tonight was a great example 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.920 of like Lebron playing at the level of the best 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:56.720 players in the world while having seven and seven shooting 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.760 below from the field, shooting below from three and can't 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:01.600 make a ree throw. That's the That's the idea that 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.640 I'm trying to hammer home here. Like when I'm when 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:08.240 I'm talking about what what shows me that Lebron is 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.800 engaged and that he cares. This is what I'm talking about. 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:14.920 This is what a good Lebron James game looks like, 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.319 because against the best defenses in the league, he's probably 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:22.080 not often going to have incredible shooting nights. You know, 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.720 they're grind out games like we saw against Phoenix, They're 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:30.000 dog fights, they're complete boxing matches, and and Lebron is 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.560 such a weapon and that type of environment when he 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:34.840 embraces that, And so I wanted to give him some 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.520 some credit because he put his money where his mouth was. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:39.960 He he said he was sorry for the way things 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.720 were going and that he promised things would get better. 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.160 And then he came out and he played, in my opinion, 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.120 his best game of the season, regardless of what the 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:49.199 box score might say. So I wanted to give him 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.679 a shout out. No, he was great, and I think, 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.280 you know, I love that. Frank kind of noticed that 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:56.480 Lebron's energy was kind and we talked about this in 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:58.720 the space as well, Right lebron Is starting that center. 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:00.720 It was just not something probably does gonna be viable 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:02.680 for a long time, for a long stretch, and he 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:04.400 did it for a nice stretch. The Lakers won like 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:06.319 four in a row, and he was great defensively in 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:08.280 those But I just love that, you know, starting joy 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.079 allows him that to be able to kind of work 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:12.680 through his game in that way where he doesn't have 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.000 to be the full time crazy defender. He was awesome 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:16.800 though on that end. I thought all night. There was 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:18.559 a few plays maybe he didn't get back to transition, 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:20.360 but for the most part, I thought he was, you know, 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.360 just a turnover creating, creating chaos on that end. And 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.400 then he played the center for a few minutes, right, 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:27.360 He played it next to Stanley Johnson in the fourth 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:29.559 or you know with the second unit, and that second 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:31.199 unit is really interesting. I love to kind of get 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.120 into that or again th h T Austin Reeves. I 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.560 believe it was Malik Monk with them as well. They yeah, 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:40.679 they just and Stanley Johnson they just switched everything and 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:42.640 that and they kind of gave up the lead again. 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:44.400 I believe in that third quarter, I thought, you know, 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:46.679 U Tah turned up the pressure. Taylor was the only 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:48.920 ball handler where we took Brawn out in that situation. 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:50.880 But it's just a nice kind of change up. And 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:52.840 I think the braun at the five being a change 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.199 up instead of like our just main pitch. That makes 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:56.920 the world's a difference. And I thought, you know, against 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.160 second units, against you know, a lot of teams second units, 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:02.280 that's a tough her and Utah was unable to sustain that. 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:04.480 We build our lead that way, um and I think 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:05.920 that's the way this team has to go. Man, when 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:07.920 both of us have been begging for more switching, we 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:09.959 got it a ton more to night. It was really 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.440 no noticeable. It jumped off the page and it just 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:15.640 confounded Utah. You know, like Jason, we looked like the 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.960 Clippers in the playoffs last year, you know what, like 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.079 like like Stanley Johnson and that Terrence Man role a 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.040 little bit right where they try to hide go bear 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:26.000 um on on a guy who's a nonshooter, and they 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.160 give that guy the ball and just say, hey, you create. 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.440 And Stanley Johnson has enough ball handling, you know, skill 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.840 to where he can attack the basket he saw I 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:35.719 think you tweeted about as well. In transition he saw 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:37.280 go bare back and he just went right into his 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.080 chest and he was able to score. And I think 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:40.839 he has that kind of you know, skill level in it. 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:42.520 But it was cool to see us kind of out 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.280 skiing Utah, I thought, in this way, and we're not 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.640 gonna be able to switch against like every team like this, 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:50.080 but it gets a team like Utah that's so that 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.400 relies so heavily on screen actions to to get their offense. 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:55.360 They just look psottos right, and they were you know, 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.480 trying to kick out when there was no kickouts there, 0:12:57.480 --> 0:12:59.600 trying to find guys on the roll. I think it's 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.040 funny Bart gets seals, and I thought Stanley just a 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.440 great did a great job scramming them in the post 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:06.800 where like when Malik Monks would be down there, he 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.040 throws him out and he gets back on Golbert. He 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.320 was just incredible. But man, our our defense was good, 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.040 uh and we hit threes early. We went cold in 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.600 the third, and to me, it's even more impressive Jason 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.120 that you know, Utah went up ten and it looked 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.000 like yeah, and we fought all the way back with 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.280 with Stanley at the five, Lebron and I think Austin 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:26.199 Reeves is on the floor to this is a good 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:28.800 Utah team like this, This isn't like the Atlanta Hawks 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:30.360 where I was saying, you know that I I think 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:32.360 they're good, but you know, their record doesn't display that 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.199 Utah is a really good team. I believe they're twenty 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:37.960 and ten when Gobert plays, so just that just gives 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:40.400 you kind of a picture of what they do. But 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:42.240 now we we confounded him. I think this is a 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.680 blueprint for we can do, at least until Anthony Davis 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.640 gets back. More switching, goes small, play, our younger guys, 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.439 play the youth, have some exuberants there, and I think 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.600 we can kind of pick up a couple more wins here. Agree, 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:55.120 So I think I think we need to move a 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.199 little bit further to same because he was the star 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:01.240 of the show, and ironically his little offensive flurry in 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:04.160 the fourth quarter distracted from what would have been a 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.280 good game without any of that scoring. Because the way 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:11.560 that the way that Stanley battled go Bear physically on 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.240 both ends of the floor was so impressive beyond like 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.160 stuff that just goes unnoticed, like on so many of 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.440 those fourth quarter possessions. A long jump shot was going 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.600 up because perimeter players and the Lakers were doing their 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.160 jobs and forcing guys to take tough shots, and here 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.480 come these high rebounds off the rim. And Stand is 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:36.080 just in their fighting with Rudy, and the most important 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.480 thing is in order for you to hold your ground, 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:43.120 you can't jump. And so he kept Rudy on the 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.960 ground in that fourth quarter by staying connected to him 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.120 in these box out situations. And there were there were 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.040 I have to go back and watch the film, but 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:52.480 it seemed to me like there were at least a 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.080 half dozen plays in that fourth quarter where Rudy could 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:58.480 have had an offensive rebound if literally any other Laker 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.400 other than maybe Lebron was there matched up with him. 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.840 And then on the weeks on the on the perimeter, 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.480 those guys Austin and and Malik and t HD were 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:12.840 coming flying in to to secure the rebound while Stanley 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:15.160 was down there fighting. And again Stand we we can 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:16.880 get into it like the Lebron as a as a 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:20.080 screener things setting that low screen there around like seven 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:23.240 eight ft from the rim. Yet did a really good 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:27.760 job of disrupting uh Utah's defense and letting Stanley, who's 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:30.160 really like we've talked about, it's just a big, strong 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:32.560 athlete letting him get a head of steam go into 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:37.160 the rim. That obviously was working, but Stanley was just 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.560 doing so much else on the court. I wanted to 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:41.680 give him that shot. Even early in the first half, 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.360 he was doing that thing Dwight always does where when 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.800 he's kind of like backpedaling against the guy driving to 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:49.920 the basket, he's just kind of swiping down at the 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:53.160 basketball with like good instincts without losing his balance. And 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.800 he had a couple of steals in the first half 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.160 like that. Just just an unbelievable game. As you know, 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.600 our guy from Laker film room, he always describes Stanley 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.680 as a big, strong athlete who runs around and does stuff. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.960 And I love that just him because that's what it is. 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:12.040 Because when you have that type of physical frame and 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.720 that type of athleticism and you're playing your ass off, 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.560 it's like a wrecking ball on the basketball court, and 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.800 and just good stuff just follows everywhere. And we need 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:23.640 so much more of that, and I'm hopeful that tonight 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:25.600 is that final kick in the butt to try to 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.720 get more minutes out of him. From Frank Yeah, man, 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:31.320 he he needs to play, and I thought he didn't 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:33.360 play enough in Denver. I think he had like thirteen 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:36.040 minutes in that Denver game. He's just a big small 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.920 ball five who plays hard. Writing you know, everyone wonders 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.400 why every Bradley starts every game, and I you know, 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.520 rationale behind that that Frank is going to is every 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.960 Bradley plays hard. He doesn't play well every night, but 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.520 he plays hard. He has a baseline level that Frank 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:51.840 Vogel expects and he gets that every night. And you 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.120 don't here at the ceiling that Mileek Monk brings, or 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.600 even the you know, chaos to Austin Reeves can bring. 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:58.400 But every Bradley he just trusts him. And I think 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:00.320 Stanny Johnson has kind of proven to me that he 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:02.760 plays hard. Pretty much every moment he's on the floor, 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.119 he's always running back. There's never a time where I'm like, 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.240 oh man, Stanley kind of jog back. No, He's always 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.160 in a full sprint. And he has good defensive instincts too, 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:11.840 And I think it's unfair to just say that he 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.359 plays hard. He's like, he has defensive instincts that are 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:16.760 there that are perfectly fit to me for a small 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.760 Ball five, especially next to Lebron, and there were nights like, 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.159 I'm very high on Donovan Mitchell. I think Mitchell was 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:24.119 one of the best. Like I guard scores, He's a 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.440 playoff killer. Stanley was able to switch on him and 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:28.359 stay in front of him, and he's strong enough. Mitchell 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:30.399 is a super strong guy. He's strong enough where he 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.800 couldn't overpower him to the rim. And you saw Donovan 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.320 Mitchell take a bunch of like forty footers right tonight, 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:37.000 and a lot of that because the guy on the 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.520 other end is Lebron James and it's Stanley Johnson guarding 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.879 those screen actors, and that's just a lot tougher to me, 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:43.639 and Dono Mitchell is probably gonna be can be a 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.199 lot better obviously than he showed tonight. But I'm just saying, like, 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:48.119 just in a way, I think this is this is 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.480 how this team needs to play. I love Dwight in 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:52.960 the rotation. I think that just helps Uh, that just 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:54.919 helps Lebron a lot. I thought Lebron looked like he 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:57.119 had a lot more energy as well on the defensive end, 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:59.159 not having to be the full time center. All this 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.640 stuff is connected it and you saw the energy kind 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:03.360 of just pick up and this team kind of goes 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:05.480 as Lebron goes. I think Pete said as well in 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:08.280 the LFR pod he saw Lebron be super energized, but 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.400 just play him around the youth man. I think we 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:12.800 were seeing that that's so necessary on this team. This 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.040 is an old team, but it has youthful players that 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:16.959